Systems and methods for facilitating access to documents via a set of content selection tags

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided to facilitate access to documents via a set of content selection tags. According to one embodiment, information is received from a content reader. For example, a content controller may receive information from a content reader via a Web site. A set of content selection tags are then established based on the received information, each content selection tag being associated with a hierarchical tag domain. It is then arranged for the content reader to receive an indication of a document tag in accordance with the set of content selection tags. For example, a content controller may retrieve one or more documents based on a set of content selection tags and document tags and transmit indications of the retrieved documents to a content reader via a Web site.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] The present invention is related to U.S. patent application Ser.No. __/______,______ entitled “Systems and Methods for FacilitatingAccess to Documents via Associated Tags” filed concurrently herewith.The entire content of that application is incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD

[0002] The present invention relates to systems and methods forfacilitating access to documents. In particular, the present inventionrelates to systems and methods for facilitating access to documents viaa set of content selection tags.

BACKGROUND

[0003] A content provider can store information that will be madeavailable to content readers. For example, a financial company mightstore hundreds of thousands of documents (e.g., investment reports,stock charts, and market predictions) that will be made available tocustomers via a Web site.

[0004] The content provider may also want to provide a content readerwith information that will likely be of interest to that particularcontent reader. For example, one content reader may be interested inaccessing documents associated with one industry while another contentreader is interested in accessing documents associated with anotherindustry.

[0005] To facilitate a content reader's ability to access informationthat will likely be of interest, it is known that an information cancategorize information. For example, a content provider can associate adocument with one or more “key” words. Similarly, a content provider cancategorize information such that documents associated with one category(e.g., an “Automotive Industry” category) are associated with one branchof a directory structure while documents associated with anothercategory (e.g., an “Airline Industry” category) are associated withanother branch. In this way, a content reader can navigate through thedirectory structure and locate information that will likely be ofinterest.

[0006] There are a number of disadvantages, however, with theseapproaches. For example, a content reader may not be able to efficientlyprovide key words to the content provider (e.g., he or she mightmistakenly request information associated with “US Corporations” asopposed to “US Companies”) and/or be unable to effectively navigatethrough a directory structure to locate information that will likely beof interest (e.g., he or she may not realize that Daimler-Chrysler isassociated with a “German Companies” directory as opposed to a “USCompanies” directory). This may be particularly difficult when theinformation associated with investment research due to the large numberof potential types of investments, the frequency at which this kind ofinformation changes (e.g., daily, weekly, or occasionally), and theimportance of providing such information to customers in a timelymanner.

[0007] Moreover, a content reader's interests may not be easilycategorized by simple key words and/or directory structures. Forexample, a content reader may only be interested in information aboutMICROSOFT® if the information was generated by a particular investmentadvisor. Similarly, a single content reader may be interested in anumber of different types of information (e.g., associated with his orher different investments).

SUMMARY

[0008] To alleviate problems inherent in the prior art, the presentinvention introduces systems and methods for facilitating access todocuments via a set of content selection tags.

[0009] According to one embodiment, information is received from acontent reader. A set of content selection tags is established based onthe received information, each content selection tag in the set beingassociated with a hierarchical tag domain. It is then arranged for thecontent reader to receive an indication of a document in accordance withthe set of content selection tags.

[0010] According to still another embodiment, an indication of a firstcontent selection tag set is received from a content reader via agraphical user interface, the first content selection tag set beingadapted to facilitate identification of a first investment researchdocument in accordance with a first document tag set. An indication of asecond content selection tag set is also received from the contentreader, and the second content selection tag set is adapted tofacilitate identification of a second investment research document inaccordance with a second document tag set. It is then arranged for anindication of the first investment research document to be displayed viaa first portion of a content reader display and for an indication of thesecond investment research document to be displayed via a second portionof the content reader display.

[0011] According to yet another embodiment, information is transmittedto a content controller via a graphical user interface. An indication ofa document is then received in accordance with a set of contentselection tags established based on the transmitted information, eachcontent selection tag in the set being associated with a hierarchicaltag domain.

[0012] One embodiment of the present invention comprises: means forreceiving information from a content reader; means for establishing aset of content selection tags based on the received information, eachcontent selection tag in the set being associated with a hierarchicaltag domain; and means for arranging for the content reader to receive anindication of a document in accordance with the set of content selectiontags.

[0013] Still another embodiment of the present invention comprises:means for receiving from a content reader an indication of a firstcontent selection tag set via a graphical user interface, the firstcontent selection tag set being adapted to facilitate identification ofa first investment research document in accordance with a first documenttag set; means for receiving from the content reader an indication of asecond content selection tag set, the second content selection tag setbeing adapted to facilitate identification of a second investmentresearch document in accordance with a second document tag set; meansfor arranging for an indication of the first investment researchdocument to be displayed via a first portion of a content readerdisplay; and means for arranging for an indication of the secondinvestment research document to be displayed via a second portion of thecontent reader display.

[0014] Yet another embodiment of the present invention comprises: meansfor transmitting information to a content controller via a graphicaluser interface; and means for receiving an indication of a document inaccordance with a set of content selection tags established based on thetransmitted information, each content selection tag in the set beingassociated with a hierarchical tag domain.

[0015] With these and other advantages and features of the inventionthat will become hereinafter apparent, the invention may be more clearlyunderstood by reference to the following detailed description of theinvention, the appended claims, and the drawings attached herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016]FIG. 1 is a block diagram overview of a content management systemaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0017]FIG. 2 illustrates tag domains according to some embodiments ofthe present invention.

[0018]FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method according to some embodimentsof the present invention.

[0019]FIG. 4 illustrates a content reader display that may be used todefine a set of content selection tags in accordance with someembodiments of the present invention.

[0020]FIG. 5 illustrates an example of tag domains and a set of contentselection tags according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0021]FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a content controller according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

[0022]FIG. 7 is a tabular representation of a portion of a tag databaseaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0023]FIG. 8 is a tabular representation of a portion of a documentdatabase according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0024]FIG. 9 is a tabular representation of a portion of a selection tagset database according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0025]FIG. 10 is a flow chart of a computer-implemented method offacilitating access to investment research documents according to someembodiments of the present invention.

[0026]FIG. 11 illustrates a content reader display in accordance withsome embodiments of the present invention.

[0027]FIG. 12 is a flow chart of a method that may be performed by acontent reader according to some embodiments of the present invention.

[0028]FIG. 13 illustrates a content reader display that may be used toactivate content selection tag sets in accordance with some embodimentsof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] Embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems andmethods for facilitating access to “documents.” As used herein, the term“document” may refer to any content that can be provided to a contentreader via a communication network. A document may include, for example,text information, image information (e.g., photographic and videoimages), audio information, and/or executable information (e.g., a Javaprogram). Note that a document's content could be manually orautomatically created. For example, a document may be written by anauthor or generated by software program. In addition, a document'scontent could be associated with any type of information, includingfinancial information (e.g., financial news and information aboutfinancial events), investment information, and/or market information.

[0030] Moreover, the phrase “content publisher” as used herein may beany person or device that generates or supplies documents. A contentpublisher may be associated with, for example, an author who writes amarket summary or an automated process that generates investment charts.Similarly, the phrase “content reader” as used herein may be any personor device that receives documents. A content reader may be associatedwith, for example, a customer who accesses documents via an Internetportal. Note that a content “reader” may receive documents including anytype of information described herein (e.g., a content reader may listento audio information, view image information, and/or execute a Javaprogram).

Content Management System Overview

[0031]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a content management system 100according to one embodiment of the present invention. The contentmanagement system 100 includes a content controller 600 in communicationwith a number of content publishers 10 and content readers 20. As usedherein, devices (e.g., the content controller 600 and the contentreaders 20) may communicate, for example, via a communication network30, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), a Metropolitan Area Network(MAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a proprietary network, a PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN), a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)network, a Bluetooth network, a wireless LAN network (e.g., inaccordance with an 802.11 standard), and/or an Internet Protocol (IP)network such as the Internet, an intranet, or an extranet. Note that thecontent controller 600 and the content publishers 10 can alsocommunicate via one or more such communication networks.

[0032] Although a single content controller 600 is shown in FIG. 1, anynumber of content controllers 600 may be included in the contentmanagement system 100. Similarly, any number of content publishers 10,content readers 20, or any other device described herein may be includedin the content management system 100 according to embodiments of thepresent invention.

[0033] The content controller 600, the content publishers 10, and thecontent readers 20 may be associated with any devices capable ofperforming the various functions described herein. The contentcontroller 600 may comprise, for example, a Web server. A content reader20 may be associated with, for example: a Personal Computer (PC), aportable computing device such as a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), awired or wireless telephone, or any other appropriate storage and/orcommunication device. A content publisher 10 may be associated with, forexample, a Web server or a PC.

[0034] The content management system 100 may also include a documentstorage device 40, such as a local, remote, or distributed databasesystem adapted to store a large number of documents.

[0035] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the contentcontroller 600 receives documents from a number of different contentpublishers 10. For example, a content creator (e.g., an author or anautomated process) may transmit documents to the content controller 600via a content publisher 10. The content controller 600 also transmitsdocuments to content readers 20 (e.g., in response to a customer'srequest or a pre-defined customer preference). According to someembodiments, a content reader 20 instead receives a document directlyfrom a content publisher 10 and/or from the document storage device 40(e.g., after receiving a relevant document identifier or link from thecontent controller 600). In either case, a document may be transmittedto a content reader 20, for example, via a Web site or an electronicmail message.

[0036] The content management system 100 may also include a paymentservice 50 (e.g., a credit card payment service) that can be used toarrange for a content reader 20 to provide payment in exchange fordocuments or in exchange for having his or her access to documentsfacilitated via the content management system 100. For example, acontent reader 20 may provide a monthly subscription payment via apayment identifier such as a credit card, debit card, or bank accountnumber or digital payment protocol information.

[0037] Note that some of devices illustrated in FIG. 1 may actually beincorporated in a single device. For example, the content controller 600may also act as a content publisher 10 and/or a document storage device40.

Document Tagging

[0038] According to some embodiments of the present invention, documentsavailable via the content management system 100 are associated with oneor more document tags. As used herein, the term “tag” refers to anyinformation, such as an identifier, that may be used to categorize orotherwise provide information about a document or about content that maybe of interest to a content reader 20.

[0039] According to one embodiment, a document tag is associated with atag “domain,” such as a single-rooted, hierarchical data structure. FIG.2 illustrates two tag domains 210, 220 according to some embodiments ofthe present invention. As can be seen, the first tag domain 210 includesthree levels. The first level includes a single tag (i e., tag “TO”)that has four descendent tags (i.e., child tags) in the second level:T1(1), T1(2), T1(3), and T1(4). Moreover, some of those second leveltags have children in the third level. For example, tag T1(1) has twochild tags in the third level: T2(1) and T2(2). Note that a tag may havemore than one antecedent tag (e.g., parent tags). For example, tag T2(2)has both tag T1(1) and tag T1(2) as parent tags. In addition, a tag maynot have any child tags. For example, tag T1(4) in the second level doesnot have any child tag in the third level.

[0040] As another example, the second tag domain 220 is “flat.” That is,the entire domain consists of a single parent tag (i.e., tag “T0”) and anumber of child tags.

[0041] Although generic document tags are shown in FIG. 2, a documenttag may be associated with any type of information associated withdocuments or with content that may be of interest to a content reader20. For example, a tag domain may be associated with a document'screator (e.g., an author or an automated process). Consider the secondtag domain 220 illustrated in FIG. 2. In this case, each tag in thesecond level could be associated with a different creator. Similarly, adocument tag may be associated with a date on which a document's contentwas created. As another example, a document tag may indicate a contenttype. For example, a document tag may indicate whether a document wasautomatically generated or manually written by an author. A document tagmight instead indicate whether a document includes image information orwhether a document is appropriate for hand-held content readers 20.

[0042] A document tag may also indicate the nature of a document'scontent. For example, a tag may indicate that a document is related to aparticular sector (e.g., the technology sector), an industry (e.g., theGerman automotive industry), a research type, a company (e.g., MICROSOFTCORP.®, an issuer, a region (e.g., North America), a country (e.g.,Canada), an investment product, a security instrument, a third-partyrating (e.g., a Moody's Investors Service rating), a research analyst, astrategist, an event type (e.g., an investor conference call), asubject, an investment style (e.g., value-based investing), a marketcap, a content type, an information value, and/or a currency.

[0043] A document tag may also reflect other information about adocument. For example, a document tag may indicate a change frequency(e.g., how often the document is normally updated), a business owner, atechnology owner, a data source (e.g., a database identifier), and/or achange process (e.g., indicating that any change must be approved by theappropriate business owner).

[0044] The content controller 600 may assign a document tag to adocument after receiving the document from a content publisher 10 alongwith an indication of an appropriate document tag. That is, the contentpublisher 10 (or a tag assignor associated with the content publisher10) may determine the appropriate document tag (e.g., by selecting oneor more tag descriptions via a graphical user interface). In this case,the content controller 600 can simply assign the first document tag tothe document based on indication received from the content publisher 10.

[0045] According to another embodiment, the content controller 600 doesnot receive an indication of an appropriate document tag from thecontent publisher 10. In this case, the content controller 600 maydetermine one or more document tags. For example, a tag assignorassociated with the content controller 600 may review the document todetermine appropriate document tags. According to another embodiment, anautomated process is used to automatically determine document tags(e.g., based on a key word analysis of the document's content).

[0046] According to one embodiment, a document tag can be associatedwith a document in different ways. For example, a document tag may bedesignated as a “primary” tag (e.g., indicating that the tag is animportant subject of the document) or a “secondary” tag (e.g.,indicating that tag is only somewhat related to the document).

[0047] Note that a plurality of document tags can be assigned to asingle document, and these tags may belong to one or more tag domains.For example, a single document tag from an author tag domain (e.g., a“Rick Sherlund” tag) and three document tags from an industry tag domain(e.g., “Technology,” “Software,” and “Operating Systems” tags) could beassigned to a particular document.

Content Selection Tag Sets

[0048]FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method that may be performed by thecontent controller 600 according to some embodiments of the presentinvention. The flow charts described herein do not imply a fixed orderto the steps, and embodiments of the present invention may be practicedin any order that is practicable.

[0049] At 302, information is received from a content reader 20. Forexample, the content controller 600 may receive information generated by(or at) the content reader 20 via a graphical user interface.

[0050]FIG. 4 illustrates one example of content reader display 400having such a graphical user interface. In particular, the display 400includes two tag selection areas 410, 420—each being associated with aparticular tag domain (i.e., a “US Companies” tag domain and an“Authors” tag domain, respectively). According to this embodiment, thetag selection areas 410, 420 are used to indicate the types of documentsthat are of interest to a content reader 20. For example, selecting the“SATURN®” tag in the “Automotive” tag domain (i.e., as indicated by an“X” in FIG. 4) indicates that documents associated with SATURN® are ofinterest to the content reader 20.

[0051] According to one embodiment, the selection of a particular tagdoes not automatically alter other tag selections (e.g., parent tags,sibling tags, and child tags). In such a case, selection of the“Automotive” tag would not automatically select the “FORD®” tag (norwould selection of the “FORD®” tag automatically select the “Automotive”tag). According to another embodiment, the selection of a particular tagwill automatically alter other tag selections. For example, selecting a“North America” tag may automatically select a set of child tags (e.g.,including a “Canada” tag). Note that the altered tag selection might beassociated with a different tag domain. For example, selection of the“Rick Sherlund” tag in the “Authors” tag domain could automaticallyresult in selection of the “MICROSOFT®” tag in the “US Companies” tagdomain.

[0052] The display 400 also includes a tag domain selection area 430that can be used to add or remove tag selection areas from the display400 (e.g., selecting “add” for the “Region” tag domain would result in athird tag selection area being added to the display 400).

[0053] Referring again to FIG. 3, a set of content selection tags isestablished at 304 based on the information that was received at 302.According to one embodiment, the content reader 20 transmits the actualset of content selections to the content controller 600. According toanother embodiment, the content reader 20 instead transmits otherinformation (e.g., text information) that is used by the contentcontroller 600 to establish the content selection tags (e.g., bytranslating text information into appropriate content selection tagidentifiers).

[0054] According to some embodiments, each content selection tag in aset is associated with one or more hierarchical tag domains (e.g.,multi-level tag domains having multiple content selection tags withindomain levels). Note these tag domains may be substantially similar (oreven identical) to the tag domains described herein with respect todocument tagging. Moreover, the content selection tags may be associatedwith any of the information described herein with respect to documenttagging, such as a content author, an industry, a company, and/or achange frequency.

[0055] For example, FIG. 5 illustrates two tag domains 510, 520 and aset of content selection tags. As can be seen, the first tag domain 510comprises a “US Companies” tag having “Software” and “Automotive” aschild tags. Moreover, the “Software” tag has “MICROSOFT CORP.®,” “SUNMICROSYSTEMS®,” and “ORACLE CORP.®” as child tags. The second tag domain520 comprises an “Authors” tag having four child tags. Although only asmall number of tags are shown in FIG. 5, any number of tags and/or tagdomains may be defined by the content controller 600.

[0056] As shown with boxes, a set of four content selection tags havebeen established in FIG. 5 (i.e., the “Software,” “MICROSOFT CORP.®,”and “SATURN®” tags in the “US Companies” tag domain and the “RickSherlund” tag in the “Authors” tag domain).

[0057] According to one embodiment, pre-determined rules are used todefine relationships between content selection tags. For example, tagswithin a domain may automatically be associated with a Boolean “OR”while tags from different domains may be associated with a Boolean“AND.” In this case, the selections illustrated in FIG. 5 would beinterpreted as follows:

(“Software” OR “MICROSOFT®” OR “SATURN®”) AND “Rick Sherlund”

[0058] According to another embodiment, these types of rules are insteadbe defined by a content reader 20. Note that relationships other thanBoolean operations may be associated with the content selection tags(e.g., “if no document having Tag A is found, then display the threemost recent documents that have Tag B without having Tag C”).

[0059] Referring again to FIG. 3, it is arranged at 306 for the contentreader 20 to receive an indication of one or more documents inaccordance with the set of content selection tags. For example, thecontent controller 600 may select documents in accordance with the setof content selection tags and a set of document tags that werepreviously established in accordance with information received from acontent publisher 10. According to some embodiments, the contentcontroller 600 compares the content selection tags with primary and/orsecondary document tags.

[0060] After selecting the appropriate documents, the content controller600 may then transmit an indication of the document to the contentreader 20 (e.g., by transmitting a document title, a document abstract,a document link, or the document itself to the content reader 20 via aWeb site).

[0061] In addition to the content selection tags and document tags,appropriate documents may be selected by the content controller 600based on, for example, a content reader preference (e.g., a predefinedset of content selection tags that is always associated with aparticular content reader 20 or a content reader category), a contentreader request (e.g., a one-time request made by a content reader 20),and/or an entitlement tag (e.g., information generated by the contentcontroller 600 or a content publisher 10 indicating documents that acontent reader 20 is allowed to access).

[0062] According to some embodiments, a set of content selection tags isstored in association with the content reader 20. The set may be stored,for example, at the content controller 600 and/or at the content reader20 (e.g., via a browser program “cookie” file). Referring again to FIG.4, the display 400 includes a storage frame 440 that can be used tostore a set of content reader selections (e.g., by providing a tag setname and activating a “save” icon 445). In this way, the set of contentselection tags can later be used to select document for the contentreader 20. In addition, the content reader 20 can access the set ofcontent selection tags to modify the information and/or completelydelete the content selection tag set. Moreover, a single content reader20 may be associated with a number of different sets of contentselection tags (e.g., saved with unique tag set names).

Content Controller

[0063]FIG. 6 illustrates a content controller 600 that is descriptive ofthe device shown, for example, in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. The content controller 600 comprises a processor610, such as one or more INTEL® Pentium® processors, coupled to acommunication device 620 configured to communicate via a communicationnetwork 30 (not shown in FIG. 6). The communication device 620 may beused to communicate, for example, with one or more content publishers10, content readers 20, document storage devices 40, and/or paymentservices 60. According to one embodiment, the communication device 620is also used to communicate with other content controllers.

[0064] The processor 610 is also in communication with a storage device630. The storage device 630 may comprise any appropriate informationstorage device, including combinations of magnetic storage devices(e.g., magnetic tape and hard disk drives), optical storage devices,and/or semiconductor memory devices such as Random Access Memory (RAM)devices and Read Only Memory (ROM) devices.

[0065] The storage device 630 stores a program 615 for controlling theprocessor 610. The processor 610 performs instructions of the program615, and thereby operates in accordance with the present invention. Forexample, the processor 610 may receive information from a content reader20 and establish a set of content selection tags based on the receivedinformation. The processor 610 can then arrange for the content reader20 to receive an indication of a document in accordance with the set ofcontent selection tags.

[0066] According to another embodiment, the processor 610 receive from acontent reader 20 an indication of a first content selection tag set viaa graphical user interface. Note that the first content selection tagset may be adapted to facilitate identification of a first investmentresearch document in accordance with a first document tag set. Forexample, the first content selection tag set may be associated with tagdomains that are identical (or substantially similar) to the tag domainsused with respect to the first document tag set. Such an approach maysimplify the processing required to identify documents that will be ofinterest to a content reader 20.

[0067] The processor 610 also receives from the content reader 20 anindication of a second content selection tag set, the second contentselection tag set being similarly adapted to facilitate identificationof a second investment research document in accordance with a seconddocument tag set. The processor 610 then arranges for an indication ofthe first investment research document to be displayed via a firstportion of a content reader display (e.g., a first display frame orwindow) and for an indication of the second investment research documentto be displayed via a second portion of the content reader display.

[0068] As used herein, information may be “received” by or “transmitted”to, for example: (i) the content controller 600 from a content publisher10 or a content reader 20; or (ii) a software application or modulewithin the content controller 600 from another software application,module, or any other source.

[0069] As shown in FIG. 6, the storage device 630 also stores: a tagdatabase 700 (described with respect to FIG. 7); a document database 800(described with respect to FIG. 8); and a selection tag set database 900(described with respect to FIG. 9). Examples of databases that may beused in connection with the content management system 100 will now bedescribed in detail with respect to FIGS. 7 through 9. The illustrationsand accompanying descriptions of the databases presented herein areexemplary, and any number of other database arrangements could beemployed besides those suggested by the figures.

Tag Database

[0070] Referring to FIG. 7, a table represents the tag database 700 thatmay be stored at the content controller 600 according to an embodimentof the present invention. The table includes entries identifying tagsthat can be associated with a document (e.g., as a primary or secondarytag) and/or with a content reader 20 (e.g., reflecting documents thatmay be of interest to the content reader 20). The table also definesfields 702, 704, 706 for each of the entries. The fields specify: a tagidentifier 702, a description 704, and a parent tag 706. The informationin the tag database 700 may be created and updated based on informationreceived from an administrator associated with the content controller600.

[0071] The tag identifier 702 may be an alphanumeric code that can beassociated with a document or a content reader 20, and the description704 may describe the meaning of the tag. According to one embodiment,the description 704 includes text, graphical, and/or audio informationthat is provided to a content reader (e.g., to help the content reader20 select appropriate tags). The parent tag 706 indicates the parent orparents of the tag in a hierarchical data structure.

[0072] Note that the tag identifier 702 may be based on the tag'sposition in the hierarchical data structure. Consider for example, a tagdomain associated with document authors. In this case, each tagidentifier may begin with “T-A” followed by a number representing alevel within the author tag domain. Similarly, tag identifiers in anindustry tag domain may begin with “T-I,” and tag identifiers in acompany tag domain may begin with “T-C.”

[0073] Moreover, the first level of the author tag domain may consist ofa single “T-A0” tag identifier (e.g., with “0” representing the firstlevel). The “T-A1(1)” tag identifier associated with “Author—Analyst”(as shown by the first entry in FIG. 7) would then be a child of the“T-A0 tag” identifier in the second level (e.g., as reflected by theparent tag 706). Similarly, the “T-A2(1)” tag identifier associated with“Author—Analyst—Rick Sherlund” is a child of the “T-A1(1)” tagidentifier. Of course, any number of other methods may be used insteadto indicate a tag's position in one or more one or more tag domainsand/or tag domain levels.

Document Database

[0074] Referring to FIG. 8, a table represents the document database 800that may be stored at the content controller 600 according to anembodiment of the present invention. The table includes entriesidentifying documents that may be accessed via the content managementsystem 100. The table also defines fields 802, 804, 806, 808 for each ofthe entries. The fields specify: a document identifier 802, adescription 804, primary tags 806, and secondary tags 808. Theinformation in the document database 800 may be created and updatedbased on information received from content publishers 10.

[0075] The document identifier 802 may be, for example, an alphanumericcode associated with a document that can be accessed via the contentmanagement system 100. The description 804 may describe the contents ofthe document. According to one embodiment, the description 804 includestext, graphical, and/or audio information that may be provided to acustomer via a content reader 20 (e.g., to describe the content of thedocument to the content reader 20). According to another embodiment, thedocument itself (or a pointer to the document) is also stored in thedocument database 800.

[0076] The primary tags 806 and the secondary tags 808 reflect thedocument tags that are currently assigned to the document. Note that theprimary tags 806 and the secondary tags 808 may be based on, orassociated with, the tag identifiers stored 702 in the tag database 700.According to one embodiment, only a single set of document tags arestored for each document (e.g., there is no distinction between“primary” and “secondary” tags). According to another embodiment, eachdocument tag is associated with a “weight.” For example, a weight from 1through 10 may be assigned to each document tag (instead of onlycategorizing document tags as primary or secondary).

Selection Tag Set Database

[0077] Referring to FIG. 9, a table represents the selection tag setdatabase 900 that may be stored at the content controller 600 accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. The table includes entriesidentifying sets of content selection tags that can be used to retrievedocuments that are likely to be of interest to a content reader 20. Thetable also defines fields 902, 904, 906, 908 for each of the entries.The fields specify: a selection tag set identifier 902; a content readeridentifier 904; selection tags 906; and document identifiers 908. Theinformation in the tag association database 900 may be created andupdated, for example, based on information received from a contentreader 20.

[0078] The selection tag set identifier 902 may be, for example, analphanumeric code associated with a set of content selection tags thatcan be used to retrieve one or more documents that are likely to be ofinterest to a content reader 20 associated with the content readeridentifier 904. The selection tag set identifier 902 and/or contentreader identifier 904 may be generated by the content controller 600.According to another embodiment, the selected tag set identifier 902 isgenerated by the content reader 20 (e.g., when he or she assigns a tagset name). Similarly, the content reader identifier 904 may be generatedby the content reader 20 (e.g., when he or she selects a user name andpassword).

[0079] The selection tags 906 indicate one or more content selectiontags and the relationship between those tags (e.g., Booleanrelationships). The selection tags 906 may be based on, or associatedwith, the tag identifiers 702 and parent tags 706 stored in the tagdatabase and/or the primary tags 806 and secondary tags 808 stored inthe document database 800.

[0080] The document identifiers 908 indicate one or more documents thatmay be of interest to the content reader 20 and may be based on, orassociated with, the document identifiers 802 stored in the documentdatabase 800. The document identifiers 908 may be determined, forexample, by comparing the selection tags 906 with the primary tags 806and secondary tags 808 stored in the document database 800. For example,as illustrated by the first entry in FIG. 9, document “D001” has beenstored as a document identifier 908 because both “T-A2(1)” and “T-C4(7)”are primary tags 806 for that document in the document database 800 (asillustrated by the first entry in FIG. 8). In other words, because theauthor of the document is an investment advisor named “Rick Sherlund”(as illustrated by the third entry in FIG. 7) and the associated companyis “MICROSOFT®” (as illustrated by the last entry in FIG. 7), thedocument described as “MICROSOFT 2002 Q3” may be of interest to thecontent reader identified as “CR-1001”).

[0081] Note that a single content reader may be associated with morethan one set of content selection tags (as illustrated by the first andsecond entries in FIG. 9).

Content Management System Methods

[0082]FIG. 10 is a flow chart of a computer-implemented method offacilitating access to investment research documents according to someembodiments of the present invention. The method may be performed, forexample, by the content controller 600. At 1002, an indication of afirst content selection tag set is received from a content reader 20 viaa graphical user interface. For example, the content controller 600 mayreceive the first content selection tag set via a display such as theone illustrated in FIG. 4. Note that the content selection tag set maybe received by the content controller 600 on a tag-by-tag basis or as asingle, complete set. At 1004, an indication of a second contentselection tag set is received from the content reader 20. The contentcontroller 600 may then store the appropriate content reader identifier904 and selection tags 906 in the selection tag set database 900.

[0083] At 1006, a first investment research document is retrieved inaccordance with the first content selection tag set and a first documenttag set. At 1008, a second investment research document is retrieved inaccordance with the second content selection tag set and a seconddocument tag set. For example, the content controller 600 may retrievethe first and second research documents (e.g., indications of or linksto those documents) from the document database 800 in accordance withthe selection tags 906, the primary tags 806, and/or the secondary tags808.

[0084] It is then arranged for an indication of the first investmentresearch document to be displayed to the content reader 20 via a firstportion of a reader display at 1010. Similarly, it is arranged for anindication of the second investment research document to be displayed tothe content reader 20 via a second portion of a reader display. Forexample, the content controller 600 may transmit the indications of thefirst and second investment research documents to the content reader 20.

[0085]FIG. 11 illustrates a content reader display 1100 in accordancewith this embodiment of the present invention. As can be seen, anindication of a first investment research document (determined based ona selection tag set named “Sherlund and MICROS OFT®”) is displayed in afirst portion 1110 while an indication of a second investment researchdocument (determined based a selection tag set named “Greene andPEPSI®”) is displayed in a second portion 1120. The content reader 20may then request to receive the first or second document by activatingone of the “get document” icons 1115, 1125. In this way, the contentreader 20 can simultaneously monitor different topics that are ofinterest. Of course, documents associated with different sets of contentselection tags could instead be displayed in a single, combined display(e.g., in chronological order).

[0086]FIG. 12 is a flow chart of a method that may be performed by acontent reader 20 according to some embodiments of the presentinvention. At 1202, information is transmitted to a content controller600 via a graphical user interface. For example, the information may betransmitted to the content controller 600 via a display such as the oneillustrated in FIG. 4.

[0087] At 1204, an indication of a document is received in accordancewith a set of content selection tags established based on thetransmitted information, each content selection tag in the set beingassociated with a hierarchical tag domain. For example, one or moredocuments associated with the set of content selection tags may beprovided via a display such as the one illustrated in FIG. 11.

[0088] As described with respect to FIG. 10, a single content reader 20may simultaneously monitor a number of different topics using differentsets of content selection tags (e.g., sets that were defined, named, andstored via a display such as the one illustrated in FIG. 4). In thiscase, a content reader 20 may be able to activate and/or deactivatevarious sets of content selection tags. For example, FIG. 13 illustratesa content reader display 1300 that can be used to activate and/ordeactivate content selection tag sets in accordance with someembodiments of the present invention. In this case, selecting the“Automotive Market Reports of Interest” content selection tag set (i.e.,as indicated by an “X” in FIG. 13) results in documents having documenttags that satisfy that tag set being indicated to the content reader 20(and presumably those documents will be of interest to the contentreader 20). The content reader 20 can also deactivate a contentselection tag set and/or save his or her current preferences (e.g., byactivating the “save” icon 1310).

[0089] Note that a number of “default” content selection tag sets may beavailable (e.g., after being defined by an administrator associated withthe content controller 600) in addition to the “custom” contentselection tag sets that were defined by the content reader 20.

Additional Embodiments

[0090] The following illustrates various additional embodiments of thepresent invention. These do not constitute a definition of all possibleembodiments, and those skilled in the art will understand that thepresent invention is applicable to many other embodiments. Further,although the following embodiments are briefly described for clarity,those skilled in the art will understand how to make any changes, ifnecessary, to the abovede-scribed apparatus and methods to accommodatethese and other embodiments and applications.

[0091] Although many of the embodiments described herein are associatedwith documents that contain financial information, the present inventioncan also be used with respect to other types of information. Forexample, content selection tags in one or more tag domains may beassociated with general news documents, entertainment information,and/or products that can be purchased by customers (e.g.,advertisements).

[0092] Moreover, although many embodiments include a content controller600 that retrieves and transmits documents, according to otherembodiments these functions are instead performed by other devices(e.g., content publishers 10 and/or content readers 20 via apeer-to-peer protocol). According to another embodiment, the contentcontroller 600 is associated with a third-party service (e.g., a servicethat organizes information for a number of different content providers).

[0093] Note that the relationships between documents and tag domainscould be maintained in any number of ways. For example, one or moredocument identifiers could be stored in a tag domain database (i.e.,instead of storing tag identifiers in a document database). Also notethat document tags may associated with existing information protocols,such as Extensible Markup Language (XML) protocols.

[0094] The present invention has been described in terms of severalembodiments solely for the purpose of illustration. Persons skilled inthe art will recognize from this description that the invention is notlimited to the embodiments described, but may be practiced withmodifications and alterations limited only by the spirit and scope ofthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of facilitating access to documents,comprising: receiving information from a content reader; establishing aset of content selection tags based on the received information, eachcontent selection tag in the set being associated with a hierarchicaltag domain; and arranging for the content reader to receive anindication of a document in accordance with the set of content selectiontags.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one tag domaincomprises a multi-level domain, and at least one domain level isassociated with a plurality of content selection tags.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein at least one content selection tag is associated withat least one of (i) a content author, (ii) a content date, and (iii) acontent type.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one contentselection tag is associated with at least one of (i) a sector, (ii) anindustry, (iii) a research type, (iv) a company, (v) an issuer, (vi) aregion, (vii) a country, (viii) an investment product, (ix) security,(x) a third-party rating, (xi) a research analyst, (xii) a strategist,(xiii) an event type, (xiv) a subject, (xv) an investment style, (xvi) amarket cap, (xvii) a document type, (xviii) an information value, and(xix) a currency.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said receivingcomprises: receiving a plurality of selection tags via a graphical userinterface.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein content selection tags arefurther associated with Boolean operations in accordance with theinformation received from the content reader.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the set of content selection tags is adapted to facilitateselection of the document in accordance with a set of document tags. 8.The method of claim 7, wherein the set of documents tags are establishedin accordance with information received from a content publisher via agraphical user interface.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein documenttags are associated with hierarchical tag domains substantially similarto the tag domains associated with the set of content selection tags.10. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one document tag comprisesat least one of: (i) a primary tag, and (ii) a secondary tag.
 11. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the document comprises content to be providedto a user via a communication network.
 12. The method of claim 11,wherein the communication network comprises at least one of: (i) theInternet, (ii) an intranet, (iii) a public network, (iv) a publicswitched telephone network, (v) a proprietary network, (vi) a wirelessnetwork, and (vii) a local area network.
 13. The method of claim 11,wherein the document comprises at least one of: (i) text content, (ii)image content, (iii) audio content, and (iv) executable content.
 14. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the content comprises at least one of: (i)financial information, (ii) financial news, (iii) information aboutfinancial events, (iv) investment information, and (v) marketinformation.
 15. The method of claim 7, further comprising: transmittingthe document to the content reader.
 16. The method of claim 15, whereinsaid transmitting is performed via at least one of: (i) a contentcontroller, (ii) a content publisher, (iii) a content reader, (iv) apersonal computer, (v) a server, (vi) a portable computing device, (vii)a wireless telephone, (viii) a Web site, and (ix) an electronic mailmessage.
 17. The method of claim 7, wherein the set of content selectiontags is associated with at least one of: (i) a content reader request,and (ii) an entitlement tag.
 18. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: storing the set of content selection tags in associationwith the content reader.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the set ofcontent selection tags comprises a first set of content selection tagsand further comprising: receiving additional information from thecontent reader; establishing a second set of content selection tagsbased on the additional information; and storing the second set ofcontent selection tags in association with the content reader.
 20. Themethod of claim 20, wherein the first set of content selection tags isassociated with a first portion of a reader display and the second setof content selection tags is associated with a second portion of thereader display.
 21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:receiving from the content reader a selection of one at least of thefirst and second sets of content selection tags; and transmitting to thecontent reader an indication of a document in accordance with theselected set of content selection tags.
 22. The method of claim 18,further comprising: receiving additional information from the contentreader; and storing a modified set of content selection tags inassociation with the content reader based on the additional information.23. A computer-implemented method of facilitating access to investmentresearch documents, comprising: receiving from a content reader anindication of a first content selection tag set via a graphical userinterface, the first content selection tag set being adapted tofacilitate identification of a first investment research document inaccordance with a first document tag set; receiving from the contentreader an indication of a second content selection tag set, the secondcontent selection tag set being adapted to facilitate identification ofa second investment research document in accordance with a seconddocument tag set; arranging for an indication of the first investmentresearch document to be displayed via a first portion of a contentreader display; and arranging for an indication of the second investmentresearch document to be displayed via a second portion of the contentreader display.
 24. An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a storagedevice in communication with said processor and storing instructionsadapted to be executed by said processor to: receive information from acontent reader, establish a set of content selection tags based on thereceived information, each content selection tag in the set beingassociated with a hierarchical tag domain, and arrange for the contentreader to receive an indication of a document in accordance with the setof content selection tags.
 25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein saidstorage device further stores at least one of: (i) a tag database, (ii)a document database, and (iii) a content reader database.
 26. Theapparatus of claim 24, further comprising: a communication devicecoupled to said processor and adapted to communicate with at least oneof: (i) a content publishing device, (ii) a document storage device,(iii) a content controller, (iv) a content reader device, and (v) apayment device.
 27. A medium storing instructions adapted to be executedby a processor to perform a method of facilitating access to documents,said method comprising: receiving information from a content reader;establishing a set of content selection tags based on the receivedinformation, each content selection tag in the set being associated witha hierarchical tag domain; and arranging for the content reader toreceive an indication of a document in accordance with the set ofcontent selection tags.
 28. A method of accessing documents, comprising:transmitting information to a content controller via a graphical userinterface; and receiving an indication of a document in accordance witha set of content selection tags established based on the transmittedinformation, each content selection tag in the set being associated witha hierarchical tag domain.